Tear-gas has long been used by law-enforcement agencies as a means for controlling unruly crowds and for flushing out barricaded law-resisters. Two types of tear-gas canisters are commonly in use: “cold-gas” and “hot-gas”, which differ in the mechanism used to disperse o-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS). CS is the active ingredient in tear-gas, which irritates the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs, and causes tearing, sneezing, coughing, etc. Physically, CS is a white crystalline substance, which is usually mixed with a pyrotechnic compound in a grenade or canister for use. When used, it is generally suspended in a smoke or a fog of suspended particles. It is effective as a crowd control agent because it is an extremely severe skin and mucous membrane irritant and lacrimator, even at minute doses.
The “cold-gas” canister uses an aerosol propellant to disperse CS particles. The “hot-gas” canister uses pyrotechnics to create smoke, which retains the CS particles and delivers them to the target area. A pyrotechnic device is more effective dispersing chemical agents through smoke. A “hot-gas” canister delivers more than 20-80 grams of CS. In comparison, the delivery rate of a “cold-gas” canister is only about 4 grams of CS. Thus “hot-gas” canisters are more efficient to use for crowd control and for flushing out barricaded law-resisters than “cold-gas” canisters. Therefore, law-enforcement agencies generally prefer to use “hot-gas” canisters rather than “cold-gas” canisters in their law-enforcement activities.
However, the use of “hot-gas” canisters has inherent risks associated with the use of pyrotechnic devices. The flames and high temperatures produced by the pyrotechnic device may sometimes ignite combustible matter in its vicinity resulting in destruction of personal and real property. Thus, even though law-enforcement agencies generally prefer to use “hot-gas” canisters, they are usually circumspect in the use of “hot-gas” canisters for law-enforcement activities. To reduce the risks associated with the use of the “hot-gas”, many law-enforcement agencies utilize a Hot Gas Deployment Device (HGDD), commonly called a “Burn-Safe”, to help effectively mitigate the possibility of structure fires, when deploying hot gas.
A “Burn-Safe” is a container which contains the flames produced by the pyrotechnic device while allowing the CS-containing smoke to safely disperse into the target area. The typical “Burn-Safe”, in-service for several years now, has gone through many metamorphoses. It initially started as a military ammunition can, within which the “hot-gas” was generated for safe dispersal of the tear-gas. It later evolved into a heavy steel cylinder with a baffling system to limit the possibilities of fire.
However, the deployment of a full size “Burn-Safe” imposes many risks on the law-enforcement officer. For example, the “Burn-Safe” is heavy and often must be manually deployed, sometimes away from safe cover. In such a situation, the officer may be exposed to hostile fire. The officer has to get relatively close to a dangerous law-resister and heave the “Burn-Safe” towards him/her.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved HGDD that is light-weight, safe, efficient, compact, and easy to use.